Expect spoilers.

I don’t expect to post much on such recent stuff, but the season compels.

Bad Santa is mostly quite pleasingly ill-mannered. It ultimately capitulates to some sort of character redemption that is wholly unwelcome, short of balls, and a slap in the face to the slap in the face that the rest of the movie stands for.

Billy Bob Thornton has turned out to have rare gifts for depicting antisocials. It’s really no wonder he played Buttermaker in place of Walter Matthau in the Bad News Bears remake – indeed, it’s easy to picture Matthau making a version of Bad Santa circa 1971. Thornton’s Willie the Department Store Santa has a life focused on three things:

Alcoholism

Grand Larceny

And sodomy.

It’s often noted that folks in cold climates – Russia, Sweden, Alaska, etc – are especially susceptible to alcoholism. If that’s true, then consider the plight of a real Kris Kringle living in near-isolation at the North Frickin’ Pole: a wife thankfully, some inherently creepy elves, weird deer, and six straight months of night. He probably would be quite the alcoholic, don’t you think? Please enjoy these additional images of this bad, bad, Santa.

Kid: Santa?
Willie: What?
Kid: I was gonna make some sandwiches. I could make you one before you leave.
Willie: Listen kid, I don’t know…I got shit to do…okay make me some sandwiches. I gotta go to the mall and talk to somebody and I’ll be back.
Kid: For dinner?
Willie: Yeah, that’s what I said, yeah.
Kid: How many sandwiches do you want?
Willie: Uh…a bunch.
Kid: How much lettuce do you want?
Willie: I don’t know. The usual amount. Whatever the hell people do. Just whatever you think.